The present invention relates to a medication supplying apparatus.
Conventionally, at hospitals or pharmacies, medications prescribed by doctors are supplied to patients by using a medication supplying apparatus (referred to as a xe2x80x9ctablet packaging apparatusxe2x80x9d in the publication) disclosed in, for example, Japanese Examined Utility Model Publication No. 575286 (B65B1/30).
The medications (tablets, capsules, etc.) in the quantities specified on prescriptions are dispensed one at a time from a dispensing drum (referred to as an xe2x80x9caligning boardxe2x80x9d in the publication) in the tablet case and collected by a hopper, then packaged.
A common object of the application concerned is to provide a preferred medication supplying apparatus with an improved medication supplying section in an automatic medication packaging machine, an automatic medication filling machine, an automatic dispensing machine, or the like.
A first object of the application concerned is to detect a fault while medication is being dispensed from a tablet case. A proposition regarding the detection of abnormal states has already been submitted by the present inventor under Japanese Patent Application No. 10-275656. In the application, however, a medication jam, which is an abnormal condition, is detected on the basis of the current passing through a motor. An object of the present application is to detect an abnormal condition by a simple construction.
A second object of the application concerned is to speed up the dispensing of medications from a tablet case. The dispensing of medications can be sped up by speeding up a dispensing drum. On the other hand, however, there is a danger in that making an attempt to simply achieve the speeding up will cause more medications than a target quantity to be dispensed due to a mechanical overrun. It could be possible to slow down the rotational speed. However, the sizes and shapes of medications are not the same, so that merely dropping down a motor output may cause a dispensing failure for some types of medications because of an insufficient motor output. The present invention is to provide a medication supplying apparatus that securely dispenses medications while restraining such an overrun.
A third object of the application concerned is to accurately count the number of dispensed medications. The dispensed medications are optically detected. Specifically, a detection optical path is formed by a light source (a light emitting means) and a sensor (a light receiving means). Dispensed medications interfere with the detection optical path, and the level of a light receiving signal from the sensor when a medication interfere with the detection optical path drops. Thus, the light receiving signal is compared with a threshold value thereby to detect the dispensed medication.
Different types of medications have different shapes, and the interfering cross-sectional areas thereof vary, depending on the orientations when they are dispensed, leading to significant variations in the drop in the light receiving level when they are dispensed. In addition, the sensor output falls because of contamination by powder from medications. Hence, it is difficult to set the threshold value, and malfunction results unless the threshold value is set at an optimum value. The present invention is to provide a medication supplying apparatus that restrains malfunction.
According to the application concerned, there is provided a medication supplying apparatus equipped with a tablet case (1) having a dispensing drum for dispensing medications from an accommodating container that accommodates medications, a motor for driving the dispensing drum, a controlling means for controlling the operation of the motor, and a dispensing detection means for detecting the dispensing of a medication from the tablet case (1), wherein the controlling means reverses the motor if the dispensing detection means does not detect normal dispensing of a medication when the motor is rotated to dispense a medication.
Furthermore, according to the application concerned, the controlling means issues an anomaly alarm if the dispensing detection means does not detect normal dispensing of a medication even after a plurality of cycles of reversing the motor and then rotating it in the normal direction is repeated.
Furthermore, according to the application concerned, the controlling means stops the supply of power to the motor if the dispensing detection means does not detect normal dispensing of a medication even after a plurality of cycles of reversing the motor and then rotating it in the normal direction is repeated.
Furthermore, according to the application concerned, the controlling means determines that a medication has not been normally dispensed if the dispensing detection means does not detect the dispensing of the next medication for a predetermined time after having detected the dispensing of a medication.
In addition, according to the application concerned, there is provided a medication supplying apparatus equipped with a tablet case (1) having a dispensing drum for dispensing medications from an accommodating container that accommodates medications, a motor for driving the dispensing drum, a controlling means for controlling the operation of the motor, and a dispensing detection means for detecting the dispensing of a medication from the tablet case (1), wherein the controlling means counts the quantity of dispensed medications when a set target quantity of medications are dispensed, and when the count number reaches a value that is smaller than a target quantity by a predetermined value, it reduces the output of the motor to decrease the rotational speed thereof, then gradually increase the output of the motor from the moment the rotational speed is decreased.
Furthermore, according to the application concerned, the controlling means reduces the electric power supplied to the motor thereby to decrease the rotational speed of the motor.
Furthermore, according to the application concerned, the controlling means integrates the difference between a target quantity and a count number from the moment the electric power supplied to the motor is decreased, and the time integral amount of the difference is added to the motor output.
Furthermore, according to the application concerned, the controlling means stops the supply of power to the motor when a count number reaches a target quantity.
Furthermore, according to the application concerned, there is provided a medication supplying apparatus equipped with a tablet case (1) having a dispensing drum for dispensing medications from an accommodating container that accommodates medications, a motor for driving the dispensing drum, a light emitting means and a light receiving means that make up a detection optical path in a dispensing passage for medications from the tablet case (1), and a dispensing detection means for detecting the dispensing of a medication by comparing the level of a light receiving signal from the light receiving means with a threshold value, wherein the dispensing detection means corrects the threshold value according to the level of the light receiving signal obtained during a non-medication-dispensing period.
In addition, according to the application concerned, the non-dispensing period means the period before the operation for dispensing medications is started.